Lava aims to garner 20 % mobile handset market share by 2018-end

There has been a 29% increase in shipment of Lava phones in third quarter of this year taking the number to 7.1 million compared to 5.4 million in last quarter.Devina Sengupta | ET Bureau | November 17, 2016, 15:58 IST

MUMBAI: A study by Cyber Media Research (CMR) shows that LAVA is one of the top mobile handsets used in India. It has become one of the more popular Indian mobile handset brand in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and J&K, said the study.

There has been a 29% increase in shipment of Lava phones in third quarter of this year taking the number to 7.1 million compared to 5.4 million in last quarter.

"Despite immense competition, we have done highest volume amongst all Indian mobile handset brands and have emerged as the Challenger brand across India," said Navin Chawla, Chief Operating Officer, Lava International.

The company clocked a revenue of Rs 7,626 crore with a growth rate of 23% from are previous year. Additionally, Lava increased its distribution width by 44% to 12,0000 outlets in FY15-16 is working towards having 1,65,000 outlets by end of this financial year. This achievement also comes at the back of Lava’s over 1000 service points in India.

Lava also has aggressive plans for strengthening its manufacturing in India to cater to both domestic and international markets. It has earmarked an overall investment of Rs 2,615 crores for ramping up the existing manufacturing units along with setting up more manufacturing facilities to increase the overall production capacity to 216 million units per annum in the next five to eight years. Lava is aiming 20 % mobile handset market share by 2018-end.

Several people ET spoke with about Ericsson’s India operations, including its current and former employees, said the Stockholm-based firm has reduced headcount in the last one year or so across functions, in line with its global restructuring.